On the November 17 Day of Action in New York, to mark two months
since the Occupy Wall Street camp began and coming just two days after
violent eviction of campers from Liberty Park in Manhattan, there was:

More than 30,000 people' rallied in New York City (NYPD estimated
32,500), including organised contingents of workers, students and other
members of “the 99%”.

Actions in at least 30 cities across the country and around the world.

A commemoration of two-months since the birth of the 99% movement with a festival of lights on the Brooklyn Bridge.

A blockade of all entry points to the New York Stock Exchange; hundreds participated in non-violence civil disobedience.

A sense that a powerful and diverse civic movement for social justice is on the ascent.

Tens of thousands took action on November 17 to demand that our
political system serve all of us — not just the wealthy and powerful.
The NYPD estimated tonight’s crowd at 32,500 people, at the culmination
of the day of action.

Thousands more also mobilised in at least 30 cities across the United
States. Demonstrations were also held in cities around the world.

"Our political system should serve all of us — not just the very rich
and powerful. Right now Wall Street owns Washington", said participant
Beka Economopoulos. "We are the 99% and we are here to reclaim our
democracy."

New York led the charge in this energising day for the emerging
movement. In the wake of billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s
pre-dawn raid of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square, 1 am, November 15, thousands of people throughout the five
boroughs and the greater region converged to take peaceful action.

After Bloomberg’s action, the slogan “You can’t evict an idea whose
time has come” became the new meme of the 99% movement overnight. The
mobilisation today proved that the movement is on the ascent and is
capable of navigating obstacles.

The day started at 7am with a convergence of a few thousand people on
Wall Street. All entry points to the New York Stock Exchange were
blockaded. "People's mics" broke out at barricades, with participants
sharing stories of struggling in a dismal and unfair economy.

Through the course of the day, at least 200 people were arrested for
peaceful assembly and non-violent civil disobedience, included city council member Melissa Mark Viverito, city council member Jumaane
Williams, Workers United International vice-president Wilfredo
Larancuent, SEIU International president Mary Kay Henry, SEIU 1199 president George Gresham, CWA vice-president Chris Shelton, CWA vice-president, Fr. Luis Barrios of the Interreligious Foundation for
Community Organization, retired Philadelphia police captain Ray
Lewis, and many others.

"All the cops are just workers for the 1%, and they don't even
realise they're being exploited", retired police captain Ray Lewis said.
"As soon as I'm let out of jail, I'll be right back here and they'll
have to arrest me again."

Bond trader Gene Williams, 57, joked that he was “one of the
bad guys” and said supportively: “The fact of the matter is, there is a
schism between the rich and the poor and it's getting wider."

At 3 pm, thousands of students converged at Union Square in solidarity
with Occupy Wall Street. They held a teach-in to discuss their concerns
about the prospect of a lifetime of debt and economic insecurity. They
held a student general assembly and marched en masse to Foley Square. The rally at Foley Square was electric. It was remarkably diverse in participation, across race, religion, gender, and age.

As the rally concluded, thousands of participants walked across the
Brooklyn Bridge, holding up lights — for a “festival of lights” to mark
two months since the birth of the “99% movement”. (November 17 marks two
months since the start of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square.)

"I worked hard and played by the rules, but when budget cuts hit last
year I lost my job as an EMT and now I'm about to lose my family's
home", said Bronx resident Carlos Rivera. "I'm sitting down on the
Brooklyn Bridge today because it's not fair that our taxpayer dollars
bailed out big banks like my mortgage holder, Bank of America, but they
refuse home-saving loan modifications for struggling families like mine.
It's time banks and the super wealthy paid their fair share and
Congress helped people get back to work."

Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement persevere

UPDATED, November 15, 8.40 pm (NYC time) -- Occupy Wall Street -- Wall Street reoccupied! The feeling here at Liberty Square tonight is the feeling of a movement that is rising, building and making headway.

Following the 1 am eviction of Liberty Square early this morning and a
long day of legal wrangling, the park was reoccupied late this
afternoon. This evening, just after 7 pm, the first general assembly at
the reoccupied park began. Using our 'people's mic', we declared
together:

'They showed us their power. And we're showing them ours.'

We are here because we believe a better world is possible. We are
willing to endure mistreatment, if by doing so we can help
re-enfranchise the 99% and reclaim our democracy from the stranglehold
of Wall Street and the top 1%.

We will push back against billionaire Michael Bloomberg and any
politician who wantonly tramples on proud American freedoms: freedom of
the press, freedom of speech and the freedom of Americans to peaceably
assemble and petition for change.

We will overcome the obstacles placed before us. We will not be
deterred. We will persevere. Our message is resonating across America,
and our cause is shared by millions around the world. We are the 99%,
and we want to live in a world that is for all of us — not just for
those who have amassed great wealth and power.

You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.

Standing up for Occupy Wall Street

Socialist Worker reports on New York
City's assault on Occupy Wall Street -- and activists' plan to
respond to this attack on free speech.

November 15, 2011 -- New York City police destroyed the Occupy Wall
Street encampment at Zuccotti Park in an early-morning surprise attack
on November 15. Hundreds of people who were sleeping at the park found
themselves surrounded by police with no warning, and then subject to
arrest or the violence of the NYPD.

Many hundreds more responded when an emergency alert went out about
the police attack. When they got to Lower Manhattan, they found the park
ringed with cops equipped in riot gear, while other police rampaged
through the camp, destroying whatever was left behind when the occupiers
were evicted.

This was an outrageous and unprovoked attack on a peaceful
protest -- an attempt to squelch dissent because the 1 per cent and those
who serve them are threatened by the message of the Occupy movement
against greed and corporate power. Now Occupy activists and all the
people who have supported it need to use every means to mobilise -- and
stand up for our right to protest and demand a better life for the 99
per cent.

Excuse

City officials used the same excuse this time as they did when they
tried to evict the Occupy camp one month ago, in mid-October: cleaning.
Occupy protesters showed the absurdity of that charge with their own
clean-up that turned the renamed Freedom Plaza into probably the cleanest
park in New York City.

But more important was the several thousand people, led by members of
the city's biggest unions, who mobilised overnight when the
announcement was made that police would move in the next morning. The
cops found a park teeming with people determined to keep the Occupy
protest going. The city was forced to retreat.

So this time, NYC mayor Bloomberg and his police moved in with no warning,
hoping to accomplish what they failed to the last time, this time under cover of
darkness. Socialist Worker contributor Jen Roesch describes the scene
she found when she responded with many hundreds of people to the
emergency alert.

Hundreds of riot cops had sealed off a two- to four-block radius around
the park and ordered media to leave. When we arrived, we found subway
stations accessing the area were shut down. Hundreds of people massed to
the west, south and north of Zuccotti, but were greeted by lines of
police in riot gear. I was standing next to a young woman whose friend
was trapped in the park, and she was weeping--the riot cop in her face
was sneering at her to "stop crying and go home, little girl".

As protesters chanted "This is a peaceful protest" the police very
deliberately pushed into the crowd, driving hundreds of people further
north. Several protesters, including City Council member Ydanis
Rodriguez, were beaten and pepper sprayed while following police orders
to retreat.

After an hour-long standoff with the police, hundreds of people
marched north on Broadway to Foley Square, the site of the planned
protest on November 17, in hopes of uniting with others who had come
down to support the encampment. Throughout the early morning hours,
hundreds of people continued to pour into Foley Square.

It will take more than a police attack on Zuccotti Park to stop the
Occupy struggle. As the Occupy Wall Street website says, "You can't
evict an idea whose time has come."

Among supporters of the movement, there is intense discussions about
what to do next, so the picture of what's happening will change
throughout the day.

OWS will hold two general assemblies on November 15. The first is at 9
am at Canal and Sixth Avenue--as this story was being written, as
many as 2000 people had turned out for the meeting. A second general assembly is set
for 7 pm at Zuccotti Park, which Bloomberg has said will be reopened
after the "cleaning", but with restrictions on anyone staying overnight
or establishing an encampment.

Responding to an appeal by lawyers representing the Occupy movement, a
judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the city's ban
on protesters returning to Zuccotti Park with tents and other equipment
to occupy it overnight. Despite this ban, the park remains barricaded.

On November 17, a previously planned day of action called by OWS in
solidarity with some of the city's biggest unions and community
organisations, will certainly draw even more people to raise their
voices in protest.

Bloomberg and the 1 per cent in New York City are trying to silence
dissent. But the Occupy movement isn't going anywhere. We will raise our
voices against repression and the greed and power of the 1 per cent.

'You cannot evict an idea whose time has come'

The following is a press release was issued by Occupy Wall Street and the police were evicting the occupiers.

New York, NY — A massive police force is presently evicting
Liberty Square, home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and
birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country and
around the world

The raid started just after 1:00am. Supporters and allies are
mobilizing throughout the city, presently converging at Foley Square.
Supporters are also planning public actions for the coming days,
including occupation actions.

Two months ago a few hundred New Yorkers set up an encampment at the
doorstep of Wall Street. Since then, Occupy Wall Street has become a
national and even international symbol — with similarly styled
occupations popping up in cities and towns across America and around the
world. A growing popular movement has significantly altered the
national narrative about our economy, our democracy, and our future.

Americans are talking about the consolidation of wealth and power in our
society, and the stranglehold that the top 1% have over our political
system. More and more Americans are seeing the crises of our economy and
our democracy as systemic problems, that require collective action to
remedy. More and more Americans are identifying as part of the 99%, and
saying "enough!"

This burgeoning movement is more than a protest, more than an occupation, and more than any tactic.
The "us" in the movement is far broader than those who are able to
participate in physical occupation. The movement is everyone who sends
supplies, everyone who talks to their friends and families about the
underlying issues, everyone who takes some form of action to get
involved in this civic process.

This moment is nothing short of America rediscovering the strength we
hold when we come together as citizens to take action to address crises
that impact us all.

Such a movement cannot be evicted. Some politicians may physically
remove us from public spaces — our spaces — and, physically, they may
succeed. But we are engaged in a battle over ideas. Our idea is that our political structures should serve us, the people — all of us,
not just those who have amassed great wealth and power. We believe that
is a highly popular idea, and that is why so many people have come so
quickly to identify with Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement.

You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.

NYPD raiding Occupy Wall Street!

November 16, 2011 -- Occupy Wall Street -- Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park), home of Occupy Wall Street for the
past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread
across the country and around the world, is presently being evicted by a
large police force in full riot gear.

We will reoccupy!

Updates

6:05 a.m. Liberty Square has been cleared. General assembly under way at Foley Square.

1:20 a.m. Occupiers chanting "This is what a police state looks like."

1:20 a.m. Police are in riot gear.

1:20 a.m. Police are bringing in bulldozers.

Protest

Call 311 if you're in the NYC area.

NYPD 1st Precinct: 212.334.0611

NYPD Central Booking: 718.875.6303

NYPD Internal Affairs: 212.487.7350

City Hall: 212.788.3058

Thousands of riot cops descend on Occupy Oakland, 32 arrested

By Joshua Holland

November 14, 2011 -- Alternet -- At approximately 5 am, hundreds of police officers clad in heavy riot
gear descended on the Occupy Oakland encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza
and proved definitively that the hyper-militarised crowd control tactics
that brought so much national attention to the city in recent weeks
were unnecessary uses of excessive force.

Several local police agencies contributed as
many as 1000 officers for the eviction, according to reports. They
shut down a wide perimeter around the plaza and then moved up, block by
block, in heavy lines, until the mass of protesters was pushed into the
intersection of 14th
and Broadway. Then, a large phalanx of riot police moved into the plaza
itself, where they arrested 32 people who had chosen to remain in the
camp in an act of civil disobedience.

At one point, police moved in and arrested about a dozen people huddled in a circle in silent prayer at the interfaith tent.

When I departed, police were tearing down
tents and clearing the plaza. There were no reports of injuries,
according to a National Lawyers Guild legal observer on the scene.

This was a striking departure from the
tactics that Bay Area law enforcement agencies, working in cooperation
with the Oakland Police Department, had employed on October 25 and the
night of November 2.While
police crowd control techniques are rarely pretty, people facing off
with riot police as part of various occupations around the country
probably don't have a good sense of the force used during the first
eviction of Occupy Oakland – and during subsequent protests the
following night.

It's the explosions and large volume of
gunshots that made these actions excessive. The generous use of
flash-bang grenades, tear gas and “less lethal” rounds deployed by
police in heavy black body armor felt more like the opening scene to Saving Private Ryan
than footage of, say, protests against the Vietnam War being broken up
by helmeted police swinging batons. While the weapons deployed by police
are designed not to kill or maim (if used properly), the visceral
sensation of walking through streets dodging explosions and chemical
agents while rounds crackle in the air creates an effect similar to that
of actual combat – abject terror, disorientation and a sense of unease
that lingers for days.

Those weapons do result in wounds – the
tally for October 25 and November 2 was three broken hands, two head
injuries (one of which, to Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen, was quite
severe), a ruptured spleen and minor injuries too numerous to catalogue.

This morning,
the police, buffeted by bad publicity resulting from two notably
violent crack-downs on protesters, simply chose a different method by
which to achieve the exact same goal. This time, they chose to follow
the book – California's Crowd Management and Civil Disobedience guidelines (PDF)
state, “Only that force which is objectively reasonable may be used to
arrest violators and restore order,” and, unlike on previous nights in
the streets of Oakland, they did just that.

In another departure from past practices,
they let the protesters protest. Whereas police issued a series of
orders to disperse on the evening of October 25 – and then unleashed a
barrage of non-lethal weapons when they did not comply – this time they
simply let the crowd blow off steam. The police erected and manned
barricades to keep protesters in the intersection, where they chanted
for an hour or two before losing steam and dispersing, without violence
and of their own accord.

What this morning's eviction had in common
with the one two weeks before is that the end-game is just as unclear.
Protesters again promise to reclaim the plaza as soon as police leave.
The Oakland City Council has reportedly entertained a proposal to hire
private security guards to keep the plaza clear, but this is a
cash-strapped city and one has to believe that the Occupiers\' resolve
will outlast the city\'s private security budget.

Meanwhile, the occupiers plan to “reconvene”
at 4 pm at the main branch of the Oakland Public Library. It remains to
be seen if the city\'s smarter, less violent crowd control strategies
will continue to prevail.

Portland council attacks Occupy camp

By Camille White-Avian

November 15, 2011 -- Socialist Worker(US) -- One of the largest Occupy movements outside New
York City mobilised thousands of people through the night of November 12
to defend its encampments in adjoining parks -- but by the next morning,
Portland's liberal Democratic mayor and the police who answer to him
were able to move against the camps and shut them down.

Police sealed off Lownsdale and Chapman Squares, which are separated
by one street, and city crews went through on Sunday and Monday, taking
down the remnants of the Occupy camps.

But Occupy supporters, whose numbers peaked at about 8,000 during
their standoff with police on November 12 night and November 13 morning, feel a
sense of defiance, not demoralisation. Some of the occupiers have
transferred the protest to downtown Pioneer Square. And with a planned
November 16 walkout at Portland State University (PSU) by students eager
to begin their own Occupy and the November 17 national day of action,
the struggle in Portland continues.

In his statement, Adams asserted that the eviction was not "an action
against the Occupy Portland movement" but rather was in the best
interests of the movement. "I have said from the beginning that I
believe the Occupy movement would have to evolve in order to realise its
full potential", Adams declared

Apparently, Mayor Adams figured that the best tool for this "evolution" was police nightsticks and pepper spray.

Like city officials in New York City and Oakland, Adams cited "health
and safety concerns" as a pretext for the crackdown, but no one who
supports Occupy Portland was fooled. Even before a general assembly
could issue a statement, the activist and labour communities had already
put out the call to defend the camp. As Occupy Portland's stated in its press release:

The city's evidence of increased crime around the Occupy site has only
verified what is already clear--interpersonal conflicts, substance abuse
and disorderly conduct arrests have increased. What the city of
Portland has failed to prove, however, is that the protesters of Occupy
Portland are direct threats to public safety and economic activity.

Occupy Portland itself is not the root of whatever ills affected the
camps. On the contrary, they had become a gathering place for the 99
per cent, including people reeling from attacks on social services, the
national foreclosure epidemic and poverty.

The system's inability to address such pressing social needs gave
rise to the Occupy movement in the first place. If Adams truly shared
the goals of the Occupy movement, he would have sent social workers, not
police, into the camps.

Defending the camp

The November action to defend the camp began with a 2 pm march
from the downtown waterfront to Lownsdale and Chapman Squares, each of
which occupies a city block between SW Third and Fourth Avenues divided
by SW Main Street. Throughout the afternoon, activists held safety
training classes to prepare for the police repression anticipated by
protesters.

Other activities included performances by radical troubador David
Rovics, a community Occufest/Occupotluck and a bike swarm. Non-violence
was the watchword for the entirety of the events.

As the midnight deadline loomed, the protest grew. What had been
hundreds of dedicated activists throughout the day grew into a mass of
thousands who took over the camp and the one-block section of Main
Street between the two parks.

A police line met the protesters in the streets at the intersection
of Main and Third. Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators stood on the
steps of the Portland Police Bureau building across from the camp, many
with cameras in hand and an elevated view of the action -- giving added
force to the frequent chants of "The whole world is watching!"

As the midnight deadline passed, the energy of the crowd grew.
Earlier chants of "Hey, Mayor Adams, send the police home!" morphed into
"We won't go! Send the cops home!"

When organisers confirmed that police had been given orders to not
make people leave until 2 am, a cheer went up. Among the protesters
who pushed into Main Street, between the two squares, the mood was
festive, with people laughing, dancing and talking excitedly. The sheer
number of people filled everyone with a sense of giddiness.

Meanwhile, the police began to line up and restrict movement by
stopping people from crossing Third Avenue while the occupation of Main
Street continued. Tensions ran high as police and protesters maneuvered
for position. The police could be seen in full riot gear, batons drawn
and ready to swing. Protesters held their ground and called on others to
pull in closer and reinforce the front lines.

When a protester allegedly threw a firecracker near police, police
from the Lownsdale Square side of Main Street began to roughly push
people backwards. There was a great deal of confusion when the police
grabbed and arrested a man near the front, claiming as justification
that he had thrown the object. Chants of "We are peaceful, you are not!"
and "Peaceful protest" erupted. Some chanted directly at the police,
"Quit your jobs!"

Other protesters began to link arms and cover their faces with
bandanas as police pulled out canisters of pepper spray and pushed
demonstrators even more aggressively. Then four police on horseback
moved in to further intimidate and push people out of the intersection.
During the chaos instigated by police, several people were
pepper-sprayed.

But every time police aggravated demonstrators, it only served to
harden the resolve of activists to peacefully hold the street. After
roughly half an hour, protesters had pushed out into SW Third, forcing
the visibly shaken riot police to stand on the steps of their own
station and on the sidewalk of SW Madison around the corner from the
protest.

As several thousand people danced, milled about and talked in the
streets surrounding the squares, the police regrouped. Throughout the
night, people came and went. Sometimes, it seemed like the crowd was
thinning out, but still the number of people hovered above 1000 well
into the early morning.

Feeling victorious and exhausted, many people went home between 4
am and 9 am. When the crowd thinned out enough, police felt confident
in clearing the squares of whatever people and belongings remained.

Next steps

Occupy Portland held a general assembly at noon on November 13 in Terry
Schrunk Plaza, which is adjacent to Chapman and Lownsdale Squares, to
discuss next steps after the police took down the encampments. During
the assembly, occupiers decided to move back into the parks from which
they had been evicted, and over the next several hours, there were a
series of confrontations that drew more and more protesters back into
the streets as the police attempted to force an end to the
demonstration.

For several hours, the local media reported a stalemate between
police and protesters, until protesters eventually decided to move to
Pioneer Square, a privately owned square in Portland's shopping
district.

Meanwhile, city officials are attempting to turn the public against
the Occupy movement by focusing on "damages" and "clean-up costs" at the
parks that amount to some $50,000. But far more costly and wasteful was
the money spent on police overtime -- money that could have been used for
social services so desperately needed by the 99 per cent.

"We may have lost the parks, but from our standpoint the events of the weekend were a victory", Occupy activist Kari Koch told The Oregonian. "The turnout by the community was amazing. We are in a strong position to keep the movement going forward."

"We are out the parks, and into the banks", she added.

With spirits high, it seems only a matter of time until Occupy
activists decide on one of the many parks in the area to set up a new
encampment.